Yesterday the State Assembly passed legislation that would scale back increases on rent-regulated apartments statewide, returning to regulation tens of thousands of units that were converted to market rate in recent years. According to the Times, the bill would also lower to 10 percent, from 20 percent, the amount a landlord can raise the rent after an apartment's been vacated; limit the owner's ability to recover a rent-regulated apartment for personal use; and increase fines for landlords who harass their tenants to try and drive them away.
From the landlords point of view, the sky is falling; Joseph Strasburg of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents landlords and real estate agents, tells the Times, "This is going to be very devastating. New York City is the last big city in the country that has any strong form of rent regulation. And at a time when we have an economic recession, when rents are actually going down, this will put another nail in the coffin." Won't anyone think of the landlords!?
The legislation would also raise the rental ceiling for taking apartments off the regulated rolls from $2,000 to $5,000 a month, and repeal the Urstadt Laws that in 1971 transferred the city's authority to regulate rents to the state. Landlords are now worried that the New York City Council will enact a slew of pro-tenant laws. (New York City has roughly one million rent-regulated apartments.)
Of course, the bill now has to pass in the Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow 32-30 majority, with some members in decidedly non-liberal districts. Majority Leader Malcolm Smith says he won't take up rent regulation until the state’s budget problems have been addressed, presumably sometime after March 31st when the fiscal year ends. But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver seems guardedly optimistic, telling Politicker, "What has happened in the past is that if some of these bills were allowed to the floor by Republican leadership, they might have passed in previous years. What I'm hopeful is that this year it can happen in the Senate where it can get out of committee."
